Hey, Y'all! I'm back with another chapter. Sorry it took so long. I've been dealing with some writer's block. (bluh) Tell me what you think of the fight scenes!
Chapter Nine: Chaos and Capture
Gilan slipped off of Blaze. Thirty meters ahead in the darkness laid Seamus' encampment.
Behind him, Halt huffedd.
Halt and Will still weren't talking.
Will slipped away, towards a tree with a good view of Seamus' camp. Halt stalked off.
Horace looked to Gilan. "Are we ready?"
Gilan nodded and started forward.
The camp was about fourty meters across, a hut stood in the center, with several tents around it. Torches had been put up around the camp, providing dim light.
Plenty of shadows to hide it, Gilan noted.
"Horace," Gilan whispered. "I want you to go up to that barricade, and I want you to shove it out of the way. As loud as possible."
Horace's teeth gleamed in the moonlight. He charged forward and lifted it up, and threw it, like an angry scotti throws an ale mug.
Gilan drew his sword.
Soldiers rushed out of their tents, swords drawn. "Men, fall in!" The captain surged forward, out of an orange and red striped tent. They formed up behind the captain.
Had these been highly trained men, Gilan would've been worried. But Gilan had been trained by the swordmaster Macneil; and Horace was the foremost knight in Araluen.
Horace took his stance beside Gilan.
Then steel met steel.
~A~A~A~
Will stradled a large branch. He unslung his bow, nocked, drew, aimed, and released. A soldier on the ground fell. The sharp echoes of of the battle rang out clearly in the evening. He pulled another arrow out, and nocked it.
A body slammed into Will. The bow flew out of his hands, and he fell backwards. Will caught branch behind him. His lower half swung wildly.
A man stood on the branch above Will. He grinned and released the rope he had swung on. "The boy, aye? You're lucky enough to be killed last." The man grasped the tree, and brought his knee up. Will scrambled away, just as a foot came down hard on the branch.
Will practically fell down the tree, like a squirrel after the last nut. He slipped off the last branch, twigs snapping loudly under his feet.
The man bore no clan symbol on his dark clothes. An assassin?
He jumped off the last limb, landing gracefully with only a small thud. He drew a sword.
Will pulled out his knives.
~A~A~A~
Halt moved like a shadow through the sidelines.
The gap between him and Seamus' hut closing quick.
Get in, get Seamus, get out.
Halt ghosted into the hut.
It was too close of quarters in the hut for Seamus massive claymore. Which gave Halt a slight advantage.
Will popped into Halt's mind. What was up–
Steel whirred. Halt jumped back, drawing his Saxe and knife.
Seamus leapt forward, short swords flashing. He cut, thrust, slashed, stabbed.
Halt tumbled backward, mind spinning between Seamus and Will.
Halt parried and blocked again.
Blow by blow, Seamus pressed forward.
Halt thrust. His blade swished through empty air.
Seamus' sword came down for a killing blow.
~A~A~A~
A sea of soldiers swam around Gilan. His blade became heavier every second.
Horace and he stuck together, pushing through the ranks, cutting down men.
For an instant Gilan's eyes flashed to the window of the hut. He froze a milisecond.
Halt was about to die.
Gilan rushed through the men.
He burst through the door as Seamus' blade arked downward.
A loud clash rang out. Seamus' sword met Gilan's.
Seamus smiled.
He kneed Halt in the chin, his sword snapped around to cut Gilan in the neck.
Gilan parried. "Go, Halt!"
Gilan thrust.
Outside Horace was being flooded.
Will was missing.
They had lost before the beginning.
Halt rushed out. He tried to break through to Horace unsuccessfully.
"Get Will! We'll be fine." Horace shouted above the soldiers.
Halt knew they wouldn't. Seamus had already subdued Gilan and was coming out.
With everything in him resisting, Halt ran away.
A bruised and bloody Will joined Halt as he left the clearing.
Halt glanced back.
What had he done?